Marton Manor, in rural Herefordshire, makes a romantic setting even for a hastily organised wedding. And it is a quickly-arranged ceremony indeed that Fleur Jarvas is demanding - even though marrying before her twenty-first birthday means forfeiting a large inheritance. Naturally all the guests, including Mark Treasure and his wife Molly, are dying to know why . . .
But that is only the first mystery of a sinister country weekend. The real question is why the long-straying father of the bride shows up uninvited . . . As the wedding-eve rituals gather pace, so does the tension. And when the next day dawns, it is not to bells and confetti but to two unexplained deaths, a pointed disappearance - and a testing case for Treasure.
'Clues and red herrings jostle agreeably; Mark Treasure sorts 'em out, bankable as ever' Sunday Times
'A tale well told. The ebullient Mr Williams in top form' Financial Times
'An intriguing financial mystery . . . the murder is wonderfully, whimsically complicated, and the plot, ably worked out, is played for laughs' Chicago Sun-Times Stuart David Williams was a writer best known for his crime novel series featuring the banker Mark Treasure and police inspector DI Parry.
After serving as Naval officer in WWII, Williams completed a History degree at St Johns College, Oxford before embarking on a career in advertising. He became a full time fiction writer in 1978.
Williams wrote twenty-three novels, seventeen of which were part of the Mark Treasure series of whodunnits which began with Unholy Writ (1976). His experience in both the Anglican Church and the advertising world informed and inspired his work throughout his career.
Two of Williams' books were shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award, and in 1988 he was elected to the Detection Club.
